Korean startups developing Artificial Intelligence based products and services are doing astonishingly well and receiving investments from prominent Venture Capitalists and investors. Skelter Labs, a startup that is developing innovative machine intelligence technology to enhance user’s daily lives, recently received an undisclosed funding from leading Singapore-based tech VC firm Golden Gate Ventures. The company is now looking at expanding its reach to Southeast Asia.
Developing a AI-based personal assistant
Skelter Labs, was founded in 2015 by Ted Cho, who was the former engineering site director at Google in Korea. The startup’s main vision is to develop an AI based new generation personal assistant service that helps users navigate through multiple tasks of daily life.
Skelter Labs is currently considered as one of the fastest growing AI startups in South Korea with a focus on four key dimensions of machine intelligence including vision/speech, context, and conversation. Its core technologies are designed to empower enterprises to apply AI technologies along the entire value chain including manufacturing, customer operations, device interaction, and consumer hyper-targeting.
The company started with creating a chatbot, a flight booking app, and a point-of-sale system before shifting to developing AI-driven products. Now, it develops virtual assistant technologies that go beyond the limitations of traditional chatbots and voice assistance.
‘Skelter Labs believes in pushing boundaries of machine intelligence
to give users greater satisfaction.’
Strategic Investments and Technological Expertise
The startup believes that to achieve goals two things are absolutely essential – aggressive investment and excellent pool of engineering talent.
Skelter Labs has hired some of the best of the brains in the industry with backgrounds in AI and has worked in places like Google and KAIST AI Lab. The startup has an outstanding mix of engineers, product managers and UX designers, who are continuously working towards developing the best of AI-driven products.
The startup had raised $10 million earlier in 2018 from investors like KakaoBrain, the AI unit of Korean messaging giant Kakao, Lotte Homeshopping and Stonebridge Ventures. Now, with more funds infused by the Golden Gate, the company is looking for opportunities in Japan and parts of Southeast Asia specifically Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Ted Cho, CEO of Skelter Labs, quoted, “Our company is currently growing very fast and the latest strategic investment from Golden Gate Ventures is intended to help us to expand regionally and enter new markets. It means a lot to us that Golden Gate Ventures, a prominent firm with strong footprints across Southeast Asia joins us as an investor, which gives us the opportunity to be part of the rapid technology rise happening in Southeast Asia’s right now.”
Skelter Labs is successfully partnering with several Korean conglomerates by licensing its core technologies as a primary revenue source. The startup is marching ahead with an ultimate aim to create technology that can be universally applied in all markets.
